Chicken boarders

[Doody]

Hi,

 

Hi everyone, hope your all well. After keeping my chickens now for nearly day 7 lol, everything is going well. Ive got all the supplements regarding food, bedding, treats, etc etc. Also got all the fencing sorted, to protect the chooks from sly fox and cat attacks.

 

However last night, sitting in the garden about 9:30, luckily i had put the chooks to bed and they was all safe and locked up, ONLY to see a huge Hawk of somekind fly down and try and attack a Robin that was sitting very close to us.

 

The Hawk then landed on the tree right above the chooks. Now it could have been a conicidence that a Hawk appears the same week i get my chickens, but is this something i should be concerned about? Ill be honest, i never ever thought about protection from birds of prey, and never seen one in our garden before.

 

Any advice?

 

Regards

 

Mark

[Mollie333]

Wow, i'd consider that as lucky.

I love birds of prey, but it has been known them to eat small chickens, so keep a good eye out if your visitor comes again. Do you have bantams or big girls, and are they in a secure fox proof run\ eglu run? they should be fine if they are in a run away from predators.

[Lavenders_Blue]

It depends on the kind of hawk that it is. Could you try and describe what it looked like?

 

For example a kestrel or sparrowhawk (both small-ish) would struggle to take a chicken, they prey on small birds (and mammals in the case of kestrels).

A red kite would be big enough to take a chicken but would be very unlikely to do so as they feed on carrion.

A buzzard could possibly take a chicken.

 

Does your run have a roof on it? Your birds should be safe if so.

[Doody]

It depends on the kind of hawk that it is. Could you try and describe what it looked like?

 

For example a kestrel or sparrowhawk (both small-ish) would struggle to take a chicken, they prey on small birds (and mammals in the case of kestrels).

A red kite would be big enough to take a chicken but would be very unlikely to do so as they feed on carrion.

A buzzard could possibly take a chicken.

 

Does your run have a roof on it? Your birds should be safe if so.

 

From the images, i would say it was a buzzard.

 

Ive seen Kestrels before and it defiently wasnt one of them. It had a pretty big wingspan. My chickens are Isa Browns, and they free range while im in the garden, and i have a huge open fence pen for them when im not near to them so if i go into the house for a short while or are at bottom of garden i know they are safe from predators, never thought of birds of prey though (Above ariel attacks) hence why it doesnt have a lid on it.

 

I think ill keep my eyes peeled over the next few nights. It might of just been a chance in a million, then again, Mr Hawk may know there is a chicken dinner available.

[Doody]

Wow, i'd consider that as lucky.

I love birds of prey, but it has been known them to eat small chickens, so keep a good eye out if your visitor comes again. Do you have bantams or big girls, and are they in a secure fox proof run\ eglu run? they should be fine if they are in a run away from predators.

 

You can have this Hawk, he was bloomin huge lol. I have 3 Isa Browns, so yeah, big ladies lol. They free range, and also have a large pen for when im popping in/out of the house, or in front garden etc. Wasnt expecting attacks from above. I pretty sure i could scare a fox/cat off, but a swift powerful attack from the sky i wouldnt or the chicken wouldnt have a chance....eeekkkk!!

[jlo]

My girls are usually in a fenced (no roof) pen and we have loads of buzzards around and some kestrels nesting in one of the trees in the garden.

 

I am not saying that it could never happen but, so far, there has been no sign of any attack on the chooks. I think that I read somewhere that they prefer animals that are already dead - like roadkill.

[meezers]

We've got buzzards nesting in the village. I see them most days riding on the thermals way up above our garden , we can usually hear them before we see them. I have never felt they were a threat to the chooks, BUT we are surrounded by farmland so I think they have an easier meal going after the many rabbits and rodents in the fields. I've seen them several times eating a rabbit in the middle of the field where I walk the dogs.

[Mollie333]

Well i hope they dont attack, Foxes can be soo sneaky aswell! So if seen, you may not be able to scare it off without it taking the chicken.

[Roobaloo]

A Buzzard would take a chicken if it was desperate enough. Normally they tend to stick to more open areas as they are vulnerable when on the ground...

However, Buzzards aren't known for killing small birds, they can but they're often considered "lazy" hunters...who drop out of the sky on a grazing rabbit but would rarely catch a mouse or small bird...and would sooner pick at carrion.

 

It could be a youngster trying to find its own hunting zone....so if it is a Buzzard, keep an eye on the trees as they sit and wait on a perch before plummeting straight down onto their prey.

 

Kites will snatch small reptiles and birds...but are considered to be weak in the legs and so would sit at a carcass rather than drag it off. For that reason, I don't think it would try its luck with a chicken.

 

You may even have a Harris Hawk in the area.

They're not native but are popular in falconary and have a tendancy to be more independant than the likes of the common Buzzard and frequently go "feral". They are more agile and will easily pluck a small bird out the sky. If this is the case, be warned that they can take small mammals...and are very adaptive and have been recorded as living in built up areas.

 

Your best bet would be to contact a local branch of the RSPB, bird watching or falconary centre and speaking to them. If there are any captive birds on the loose, they will advise you (and this information will help them locate and recapture it) alternatively, they may be able to help identify it from your description as they will have a more detailed knowledge of birds in your area.

[meezers]

 

Your best bet would be to contact a local branch of the RSPB, bird watching or falconary centre and speaking to them. If there are any captive birds on the loose, they will advise you (and this information will help them locate and recapture it) alternatively, they may be able to help identify it from your description as they will have a more detailed knowledge of birds in your area.

 

or you could try to identify it by it's call, have you heard it ? a Buzzard makes a sort of mewwling call almost like ' mee ow !

[lheurebleue]

We have lots of Red Kites in our area. It's wonderful watching them circling looking for prey but I know they are very unlikely to take fully grown chickens.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about birds of prey attacking your chooks and concentrate your efforts protecting them from our four-legged 'friends' on the ground.

[Doody]

Luckily i havent seen him since, so maybe it was a one in a million chance that it happened in the first week of having chickens.

 

Its the flippin cats that are annoying me. Saw a cat yesterday that ive never even seen in the area, all of a sudden he is up at the pen scaring the chickens. 2 jumped out and the other chicken was scared cause he couldnt get to the other 2.

 

I chased the cat off, but i feel im constantly fighting a battle to keep this chooks safe. Especially with all the other stories im reading on this forum, scary stuff indeed. I guess im just having "NEW CHICKEN OWNER SYNDROME"

 

NCOS Syndrome lol...

[Plum]

Just a thought but would a scarecrow keep birds of prey away from the area